Qualified Opportunity Zones, a structure created by tax legislation late last year, provide a range of incentives targeting poor neighborhoods. A prominent wealth manager is pushing into this space.

Cresset Capital Management, the firm that recently launched a family office, has partnered with Diversified Real Estate Capital to launch a new fund that will invest in Qualified Opportunity Zones, areas targeted for economic stimulus by recent US reforms. QOZs to some extent are a form of "impact investing" - an investment space attracting considerable industry attention in recent years.

The federal government’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 established the zones to stimulate economic development. These areas confer tax benefits to investors who re-invest capital gains into long-term investments in Qualified Opportunity Zones. This news service wrote about the reforms recently here.

The Cresset-Diversified QOZ Fund will hold real estate development and re-development to private company investments in industries, which include data centers, manufacturing, distribution and energy, the firm said. 

While not explicitly dubbed as impact investing, the QOZ idea plays to the same broad notion of harnessing business and financial savvy to achieving certain causes while also earning a return. There are more than 8,700 Qualified Opportunity Zones across all 50 states, Washington DC, and Puerto Rico.

As part of the QOZ Fund rollout, Cresset has hired Matt Reilein to lead it, it said.

The Cresset team involves the following members: 

-- Larry Levy, founder, Diversified and Levy Family Partners; founder and formerly CEO, Levy Restaurants; 

-- Eric Becker, founder and co-chairman, Cresset; founder, Sterling Partners; 

-- Avy Stein, founder and co-Chairman, Cresset; founder, Willis Stein & Partners; 

-- Jeffrey Cherner, founder and executive vice president, Diversified; 

-- Michael Miller, founder and executive vice president, Diversified; 

-- Mark Stern, managing partner, Real Estate, Cresset Partners; formerly senior vice president, Acquisitions, Waterton Associates; 

-- Matthew Reilein, partner and managing director, Community Development, Cresset Partners; formerly managing director and head of impact investing, O’Brien-Staley Partners; formerly managing director, Community Development Banking, JP Morgan; 

-- Chris Boehm, managing partner, Private Capital, Cresset Partners; formerly managing director, Willis Stein & Partners; and

-- Bill Rudnick, chief legal advisor, Cresset and Partners, DLA Piper.